Introduction
Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer have limited opportunities to share their experiences and insights with healthcare providers and supporters. However, they have tangible insights to share with a goal of improving AYA cancer care and support. We worked with 11 AYAs to design an immersive theatre experience that invited audience members–AYAs, healthcare providers (including community organizations), health leaders, researchers, funders, and family members and supporters–to get a felt sense of what it means to navigate cancer as an AYA.
Methods
91 audience members participated in the immersive theatre experience. Each member provided informed consent and completed a qualitative questionnaire. Responses were analyzed thematically.
Results
In their responses audience members reflected on three overarching clusters: struggles with providing care and support, impacts of the immersive theatre experience on audience members, and tangible actions to improve cancer care and support for AYAs.
Conclusion
This novel approach to research and knowledge translation helped to: identify the need for more tools to better support AYAs; provide an embodied, experiential approach to learning; catalyze responsibility; identify tangible changes to improve cancer care and support; and to invite audience members to move from agency to action. Further follow-up remains necessary to further understand the ongoing impacts; however, immersive theatre experience can offer an innovative approach to inspire changes in AYA cancer care and support in practice.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)